CraigsList? Is it a viable marketing effort for a Loan Officer? How about for a Realtor? My answer is a resounding YES! But.. you have got to know what you are doing or it will be a gigantic waste of time and effort. I should know, I like to call myself the "poster boy" for what not to do when posting to CraigsList or any of the multitude of other free classified ad sites. Didn't know there were others like CraigsList? Read on, CraigsList is just the tip of the iceberg!

Here is the problem. When I started posting I really did not understand the rules. I put up a few ads offering mortgage related information, and people responded. Hmm, it can't be this easy can it? I put up several more and got more responses. Alright! Bought some posting software (the wrong one BTW) and started posting just a bit more aggressively. Nothing went up. Nada. Zero. I was ghosted, busted and banned. I needed help and I knew it so I started doing a bunch of research trying to understand what was happening to my ads.

Here is the solution I found. After looking at a bunch of internet junk, I was referred to a group called CraigsList Masters. They offered structured training classes that I was able to attend by webinar. The classes were available both prerecorded and live. In the live sessions, the trainer of course had a schedule but I was able to ask questions or have them go back over a subject if I did not understand what they were talking about (which happened frequently). Just the way I like to learn. In addition to the webinars, they make available enough training videos and documentation on what to do and what not to do that it took me nearly two weeks to go through it all.

Here is the result. I spent $147 to join the group (dirt cheap when you think about it) and invested nearly a month in learning and testing to find the best way to market my mortgage business on CraigsList. I am back to posting nearly every day and on average, I get between 15 to 20 requests for information or contact every day. Let me say that again, every day. Could your mortgage or real estate business use that kind of a "shot in the arm"? It is not hard but there are specific techniques that you must use or you will fail, just like I did.

CraigsList Masters was started by Erik Welker who was a Realtor in Charlotte for 10 years before devoting full time to his training business and he really does understand and trains for the mortgage and Realtor communities. What is even more exciting is that he has morphed the business to become ClassifiedAdMasters. Erik has added training for BackPage, GoogleBase, Kijiji, Gumtree, LiveDeal, and nearly 80 other FREE classified ad publishers. Are you beginning to see the potential? Are you tired of chasing dead leads? Think about it, 15 to 20 people emailing me looking for information every day. Check it out, sit in on one of Erik's live overview calls and I think you will be very pleased. I know I was.

Are you ready for "what's next"? Please allow me to introduce The Internet Dream Machine. Your future is here.

Bob Gammache, CMPS
Carteret Mortgage
www.nva-mortgage.com